In the first three years of the administration’s of Barack Obama and George W. Bush, Obama hit Americans with 106 major heavy-handed regulations costing taxpayers $46 BILLION. By contrast for the same period in Bush’s first three years, there were 28 major regulations at a cost of $8.1 BILLION.

The report cites a Gallup poll from earlier this year that found 46 percent of small business owners are not hiring because they are worried about new government regulations.
In addition to current regulations, the report found that proposed regulations continue to generate uncertainty and could result in significant additional costs to the economy. Source: Political Outcast

Although Obama Administration officials frequently proclaim it has issued fewer regulations than its predecessors, analysis by the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform reaches a far different conclusion: the Obama Administration has issued far more of the most expensive group of regulations with a higher overall economic cost…

From 2010 to 2011, the number of final rules issued by federal agencies rose from 3,573 to 3,807—a 6.5 percent increase. During that same time frame, the number of proposed rules that will be finalized increased 18.8 percent. The published regulatory burden for 2012 could exceed $105 billion, according to the American Action Forum, headed by a former director of the Congressional Budget Office. Since January 1, the federal government has imposed $56.6 billion in compliance costs and more than 114 million annual paperwork burden hours…

Research conducted by The Winston Group found that 53 percent of voters say federal regulations are one of the major reasons the economy is struggling; 59 percent think that cutting regulations is vital to improving the economy, and 52 percent indicate that stopping new regulations would free employers to begin hiring. According to the National Federation of Independent Business, the issue of regulation and red tape is one of the single most important problems for small businesses.

Voters are simply unaware that Congress is not in a lead position with regard to regulation, as a majority say that Congress (52%) creates regulations. However, there is a strong desire for checks and balances in creating regulations, as two thirds (65%) favor requiring regulations be approved by Congress and the President before they are enforced. Voters do not want a regulatory process that takes away legislative duties reserved for Congress – just as they do not want judges legislating from the bench. This strong support for Congressional involvement is consistent across partisan groups, including among Democrats (67%), Republicans (65%) and Independents (64%).

Voters also see a personal connection to new regulations, with majorities saying they are negatively impacted from regulations ranging from those that try to control the banking and financial industry (59%) to those that tell American businesses which workers they can hire (57%) to regulations that dictate what light bulbs Americans must purchase (60%). A majority of both conservatives (61%) and liberals (54%) say they are negatively impacted by regulations that tell American businesses which workers to hire.

When presented with a lengthy explanation of the Boeing case — where the federal government has filed a lawsuit over the their motivations for locating a new facility in the non-union state of South Carolina — fully 78% of voters side with Boeing in agreeing that a business should be able to open a facility in any state, and that the government should not be involve in the decision about where Boeing or any company locates new plants.